How to Create a Page Border in Microsoft Word.
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Adding a page border to your document can be a subtle way to make your Microsoft Word documents stand out. You can customize the style, thickness, and number of pages of a border to apply to your Word document.
Add a page border in Microsoft Word
Creating a page border in Microsoft Word will depend on your version of Microsoft Office. For Office 365 and Office 2019, open a Word document and click the “Design” tab on the ribbon.
If you have an older version of Office, click the “Layout” or “Page Layout” tab.
From here, click on the “Page Borders” button, in the “Page Background” section of the ribbon.
By default, the “Borders and Shading” box that opens should be the “Page Border” tab. If not, click on that tab to enter your border settings.
Click “Box” to add a typical box border to your document. You can use the default border style, color, and width, or change these settings in the various dropdown menus.
Click “OK” to apply the page border to your Word document.
By default, this border style is applied ten to each page.
The editing view of your document will update to show the new border applied.
Alternative page border styles and formatting
The box page format is the default style, but alternate border styles and formatting options are available for you to use.
The box border is the most basic and adds a solid line with no shadow to your page. Even that can be customized with different line types, widths, and colors.
Custom page border settings and styles
In addition to the box border, you can also apply a border with a shadow, a “3D” style border, and a custom border with mix and match options for each side.
To do this, select one of the options in the “Settings” section in the “Page Border” tab of the “Borders and Shading” dialog. Your chosen style will appear for you to review in the “Preview” section before applying it to your document.
Apply or remove individual border lines
If you want to apply or remove individual border lines from your document (for example, remove the border from the bottom of a page), you can do so from the “Preview” section.
If a border is applied, click the border line to remove it. To reapply it, click on the line to make it reappear.
Apply custom border lines
By clicking on individual border lines in the “Preview” section, you can also apply different styles to different lines when the “Custom” border setting is selected.
To do this, click the “Customize” button in the “Settings” column, select a line style from the “Style” dropdown, and then click one of the border lines in the “Preview” box.
Change the width and color of the border
You can make your border stand out with different colors and border widths. A wider border will make your border stand out more on your document.
Border widths start at 1/4 pt and go up to 6 pt. A preview of your chosen border width will appear in the “Preview” section. You can select any color you choose, either from the predefined options or by using the RGB color table.
To change the width or color of the border, select your chosen options from the “Color” and “Width” dropdown menus. If you have “Custom” border settings applied, you’ll need to click each border line in the “Preview” section to apply your chosen settings to those lines.
Add a border to a single page
Microsoft Word will generally apply border styles to each page, but you can apply a page border to an individual page or exclude certain pages such as its cover page.
To do this, enter the “Page Border” settings menu (Layout / Layout / Page Layout > Page Borders) and click the “Apply to” dropdown menu.
If you want to apply a border to an individual page, make sure you’re active on that page in the Word document before entering the menu.
From the “Apply to” dropdown menu, select “This Section” to apply it to the page you are currently on. To apply your border to the first page only, select “This Section – First Page Only” or, to apply it to all pages except the first page, select “This Section – All Except First Page” instead.
Click “OK” to save when you are ready. This will then apply your page border to the pages you’ve specified, rather than the entire document.
